Tuesday, January 18, 2011

I really didn't feel like going to watch Brentford last night but I still hopped on the 237 for the 25 minute journey from W12 to TW8. I could have taken the car but naively I though we might have a decent crowd and didn't fancy hunting out a parking space in the tight back streets around Griffin Park.

As it turns out just over 3,000 were in the ground to witness the second 1-1 draw against Exeter City in 72 hours. Monday night, a wet wet night and game on Sky, three contributing factors to a pitiful attendance but I think it also shows that at the moment there is real apathy between fans and the club. Ok it's 'only' the JPT but we are in the area final, a two legged affair that sees the winners play at Wembley so surely we can do better than a crowd of 3,093!!

The GPG is always a good barometer to how Bees fans are feeling and there are plenty of people on there calling for a change in manager.e I'm not one of them but I can se why people are frustrated and believe the only way we can move forward is with a new man at the helm.

Performances, especially at GP haven't been very good. We lost just two league games at home last season whereas we've already lost four this time round. We haven't got going on our own patch this season and, truth be told, if it wasn'tfor the remarkable run of five straight away wins across October/November/December we'd still be in trouble around the foot of the table.

Personally my appetite for football has been on the wane for a while but this season I'm even even more disaffected than usual. Some of it stems from the World Cup and England's dismal showing but I'm a club before country man anyway so that really can't have had much on an impact.

As I'm sure Sarah will atest I do get upset, frustrated, pissed-off (often all three at the same time) when Brentford loose but what I am able to do is shrug it off a lot quicker than in years gone by. Nobody wants their team to loose but with age comes maturity (apparently!) and a realisation that a Brentford defeat isn't as big an event as it once was. There's always another game around the corner so the boys are back out on the pitch a few days later which brings with it opportunity to get back on track. In any case we loose so many games that if I did let each defeat get to me I'd be in a state of constant despair!!

Of course as you get older priorities change but I've still got a season ticket so am as committed to watching Brentford as ever but over the years going to games has become less about the football and more about catching up with mates over a few beers.

In recent years the lads who used to be regulars with me at GP have got married and had kids so we don't get to see each other as often as before. This means that a typical Brentford matchday involves turning up at five to three for 90 minutes of often uninspiring football and then heading straight home. Still, it not as depressing as 2007/08 when I really was the last man standing of my lot for most of the season.

I want going to Griffin Park to be a an exciting and uplifting experience like it was a five or six years ago. Maybe it will take a change of manager to make this happen, maybe it won't but I'll be a regular on the 237 for a long time to come.

Perhaps I'm suffering from a hangover of Blue Monday but whatever it is I hope it doesn't last too long. A win at Oldham on Saturday would be the perfect tonic.